What are they?

At  the end of Year 9 you will sit your Standard Assessment Tests, or SATs. The purpose of these tests is to measure your skills in English, Maths and Science, and to see how much progress you have made since Year 6. Just as the end of Year 6 marked the end of Key Stage 2, the end of Year 9 marks the end of Key Stage 3. The next stages are Key Stage 4 (GCSEs) and Key Stage 5 (A Levels, GNVQs or other higher qualifications).

Why do you sit SATs? Who marks them? What about all the work I do during the year? What do the levels mean? What if I'm working above or below the SATs levels? How important are SATs?

Know your course

Before you start planning for revision find out the answer to the following questions from your subject  teacher;

• What is the examining board?
• How many exam papers are there?
• How long is each paper?
• What type of questions are you likely to get (descriptive, etc.)?
• What revision sources are available to you in school and outside the school.? Your teacher should be able to help you with this.
• Are there any resources such as past-paper or revision booklets that you can borrow / buy from the department?

Revision Resources

Collect together everything you have done for geography and anything else you wish to help you, such as:

• your notes (in exercise books and folders)
• case study sheets
• Essays
• Any revision booklets you may have been given by your teacher
• Past papers / Mock exam papers
• Revision sheets given to you by your teacher
• and finally don't forget what you can find on the internet

Preparing a revision programme

Finding revision for tests, mock exams and final exams difficult? This page suggests some methods you can use to revise.

Things you should do

1 Write down a list of central points as you read through a topic in your notes. After finishing the reading, try to remember all you can which is linked with that point.

2 Write a summary of each topic, perhaps on a small card. Include important facts, the main ideas, etc. . . and carry them about with you for regular reference.

3 Read through your notes and use a coloured highlighter pen on the main points.

4 Read your notes and your summary on a topic, put them away and then try to write the summary out again. Check how good it is by comparing it with your notes and your original summary

5 Read your notes and summary and then enlist someone to test you with questions. Family members, fellow students, etc. may be willing to help.

6 Develop memory techniques to help you recall really important pieces of information. Acronyms such as 'Never Eat Shredded Wheat' is an example.

7 Dictate part of your notes or summary on a topic into a cassette recorder, then play it back to yourself from time to time.

8 Practice answering examination questions obtained from your teacher either using notes and books or without them. It may be a good idea to time yourself and see if you can write an answer in about the time which the examination will give you.

9 Find new ways of presenting your notes in areas where your understanding is shaky. For example, building up a diagram showing the main points of a topic might be a better way of understanding it. Flow diagrams, spider diagrams, bubbles, etc. may also help.

Things you shouldn't do

1 Just read notes! Reading through your notes alone does not help you remember them. Exams are written, so you will need to revise how you will use the information in the exam - use some of the written techniques outlined above.

2 Leave revision until the last minute! No matter how much you try, you will never revise everything the night before - it's impossible! Plan a timetable well in advance and reward yourself for achieving each target!

3 Just revise the content! Passing an exam is just as much about knowing the exam technique as it is the content. Remember to know what the examiner will expect of you, particularly how to answer particular questions in the correct way. Learn to use 'command words' correctly in the exam questions, they will guide you with your answer.

4 Revise for long periods at a time without breaks! Plan your revision periods to have regular breaks built in. Your brain cannot cope with long periods of intense revision, you have to take a rest. Don't revise for periods longer than half an hour. Take a walk, or have a drink and then return to it - you'll remember much more that way.

Revision Planning

There is no substitute for thorough planning before revising. You should plan to revise for your exams well in advance, allowing your brain time to cope with all of the information from all of your subjects.

Plan a timetable well in advance and don't leave it until the last minute - it's impossible to revise the whole course in a short space of time. Remember too, that you are not an 'empty pot' to be filled: you have been learning over the past two years - revision just helps you to fine tune the detail for the exams.

You should take time not only to plan to revise content, but to revise exam structure and how to answer specific questions too.

How to plan

It is best to begin your programme of revision two or three months before the exams. However, late you leave it, make sure you follow this advice:

1 First devise a revision timetable.

2 Revise in short manageable chunks and take regular breaks. Each revision session should last about 40 minutes, with 10-minute breaks between each session.

3 Try not to revise more than two subjects a day and don't attempt to do all of a subject in one go.

4 Decide what time of day you work most effectively: mornings, afternoons or evenings.

5 Make sure you have time to relax before going to bed and try to get plenty of sleep. But don't go to bed so early that you can't sleep – read a book or watch TV first.

How to revise

This means listing everything covered in your syllabus then deciding how much you remember about it. This will give you an idea of what areas you need to focus on. Once you have identified areas of weakness you need to start revising them.  

You don't have to revise on your own. And it doesn't have to be painful or boring. Believe it or not, it can even be enjoyable. By using these six key revision skills, you will gain confidence in your revision. If you are too confident, you might learn some techniques you didn't already know.

1 Make notes

Notes help you concentrate and understand a topic. They also save you from having to read your whole course file, because you can memorise your own notes more easily. 

• Read through your essays, notes and textbook chapters and list key points and words under each separate heading as you do so.
• Write in different colours or use highlighters to make important points or to make headings stand out.
• List any of your own ideas under each of these headings in another colour.
• Make sure your notes are concise (short and clear) and relevant (keeping to the subject). Try to show what is important information and what is not.
• Make sure your notes are legible.
• Once you have completed your notes, you may find it useful to rewrite them and keep a final copy stored on index cards or in a small notebook for easy reference, especially for when you have a spare moment.

2 Use mnemonics to help you remember

A mnemonic is a way of helping you remember information using abbreviations, words or phrases. The funnier these are, the better. To remember the colours of the visible spectrum in order, you might use the mnemonic: Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain, using the initial letters of each word to remember (in the right order) the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

3 Use diagrams or mind maps (click here to find out how to do one)

Diagrams can also help you remember and understand things. Each leg of a spider gram, for example, has a heading that is linked to the main body or topic. You can display these diagrams where you are studying.

4 Revise with your friends

Forming self-help pairs or groups to assist your revision and to test each other can be a great advantage. Working with others can help you to fill in gaps in your understanding or knowledge and is bound to be more fun than working alone. But be careful not to make your sessions all fun and no work!

5 Test yourself online

There are a number of revision sites you can use to help you with your revision. Watch out as some of the site are no more than games and do little to prepare you for your final exams. I have put together a list of very good to reasonable websites on the BRCC website. Click here to have a look.

6 Study past papers

How to do Mind Maps

A mind map is a stylised spider diagram that contains information in the form of pictures and text. Mind maps can be used to plot information relevant to the different topics in geography. When you create a mind map you should use lots of colour and include diagrams and sketches. This make the information more interesting to your brain. It should also make revision more 'enjoyable'. Below is a tutorial explaining how to create mind maps.

Stage 1

In the centre of a piece of A4 paper identify the topic you are producing your mind map about. The example below is a case study of the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, a volcano in the Philippines.

Exam Techniques

Before the Exam
• Keep calm - relaxation is important. Try to achieve a balance between this and work to make your revision really effective. You should be able to work and revise, and still play sport, belong to a Youth Club etc...
• Late night revision the day before the exam does not help. In the exam period you will need a clear head and a good sleep every night. Cramming at the last minute will only muddle you. Just glance through your summary notes the night before an exam.
• Make sure that you know what you will be examined on in every subject.
• Have a look at syllabus for this year's exams and past examination papers.
• Know how to spell key words for the subject.

On the Day
• Have something to eat before the exam.
• Get to the exam in plenty of time and keep calm.
• Listen carefully to all the instructions. There might be some you weren't expecting.
• Fill in your personal details.
• Read all the instructions carefully.
•Allocate your time, including enough to read through the paper at the start, time to plan your answers and check them through at the end. You might want to allocate more time to those questions which carry greater marks.
• Read the question carefully and answer the question that is on the exam paper even if it is not quite the one you had prepared for.
• Make sure that you complete all the compulsory questions and the required number of optional questions.
• Do not worry about the order in which you answer the questions. You can always go back to a question at the end.
• Check your answer once you have finished each question.
• Make you answers clear and present diagrams where necessary.
• Make a plan if you are writing an essay.
• Never cross anything out and make it illegible. Draw a single line through it instead.
• Show all your working out.
• If you do run out of time, you might gain some valuable extra marks for providing a plan for an answer that might have been!

After the Exam
• Once the exam has finished wait to be told that you can leave. Make sure that you are quiet until you have left the room.
• Whatever people say about how easy or difficult they found the exam, remind yourself that you have done your best. Have confidence in yourself, and if you are really worried about a particular question, make a note of it once you are out of the exam room and ask a teacher to explain the answer to you.
• Don't worry about the one that you have just taken - think about the next one.
• Give yourself time to relax and get over the exams.